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UPDATE: Unsubscribe links have been implemented as a feature and are available now in version 10.7 of Subscribe2 HTML.

TL;DR – I’m thinking of adding a feature allowing unsubscription links in the notification email in the next version. I hope I’ve found a good implementation for this feature as it isn’t straightforward. What do you think? Comments please… 😉

For a long time the Roadmap for Subscribe2 has stated that unsubscribe links in the notification emails has been considered and dismissed as a development route.

Why? Well, for a few reasons:

Subscribe2 is designed to be able to send individual emails but it can also be configured to send a single email to multiple recipients via the email BCC header – so the unsubscribe link would not be individual to each recipient

Subscribe2 can send up to 4 email types and in 2 formats, HTML and plain text – formatting can get messy when trying to implement a solution for all email types

Subscribe2 supports two user type, Registered and Public – the latter can click on a link to delete their email address but Registered Subscribers need to log in to their profile and change their setting – so a single link isn’t enough

So, where are we at right now?

Well, I think I have a satisfactory and workable solution now that I can spend more time developing Subscribe2 HTML while Subscribe2 is looked after by the folks at ReadyGraph. (See here for more about that split).

Basically, I have implemented a new {KEYWORD} called {UNSUBLINK}. This keyword is replaced by an unsubscribe link for Public Subscribers and a link to the ‘Your Subscriptions’ admin page for Registered Subscribers. These links are very basic in their implementation to allow for the plain text emails.

So, to allow greater control over the final output in the email there are also API filters for both links that passes both the generated link and the email type. This allows individual sites to use a little code to add some text and formatting to the link depending on the link and the email type. So for example (see below) you can return a nice sentence to Registered Subscribers with a word linked to the ‘Your Subscriptions’ page.

Finally then, this is the best solution I can currently think of, but I’m happy to hear some feedback on this before I push this feature out. Comments are open so let’s have some constructive feedback please. [Off topic comments will be deleted!]

This post is all about some recent changes to Subscribe2 and Subscribe2 HTML and also clarifies the future of these two plugins a little.

As many of you may well have already noticed, Subscribe2 is now under new management. About 6 months ago I was the sole developer and supporter of Subscribe2 and Subscribe2 HTML and it was getting to be too much of a chore. I was approached and asked if I’d be willing to hand over control of Subscribe2 in return for a payment. I accepted. As part of that agreement this site was handed over too, but since it hasn’t been used I hope no one minds if I resurrect it for Subscribe2 HTML!

Subscribe2 has gone through some intensive development in this period and is now at version 10.17.2. It has added a new feature that can rapidly grow your subscriber base, the trade off being you agree (and your subscribers agree) to share their details with a third party, namely ReadyGraph.

Subscribe2 HTML has also gone through some changes and is currently at version 10.6. Features such as draft email in the Send Email page and the ability to send images and CSS as attachments to the notification email have been added.

So, essentially Subscribe2 and Subscribe2 HTML have now gone in different directions.

I still look after the code base for Subscribe2 HTML and will continue to do so. I also still hang around in the forum for the free version of Subscribe2 but I plan to start scaling this back and maybe lurking a little more.

The reason for me scaling back? Well, I cannot commit changes to the code anymore so cannot implement fixes for a start. Secondly, the majority of questions that are posed on the forums have usually been asked before, often this is many times before. So, the answers are usually available already. Finally, well as I said above the development and support was becoming a bit of a chore and I’m quite enjoying not feeling like I have to answer support questions!

So, good luck to the new developers in your venture and stewardship of Subscribe2. Best wishes and good luck to all of my users, code contributors, donators and supports over the years while I looked after Subscribe2. If you need me, you’ll find me looking after Subscribe2 HTML! :)

Version 9.3 9.4 of the Plugin in now available for download. This version has been tested on WordPress 3.8.2, 3.8.2, 3.9. It requires at least WordPress 3.3.

Version 9.3 contains the enhancements and bug fixes listed below.

If you use this plugin and find it useful please give it some positive feedback! Visit the WordPress.org site and give it a rating, tell me it works in the compatibility section and maybe consider making a donation to support future development!

An HTML version of the plugin that emails an HTML email to Public Subscribers is available here.

Version 9.1 9.2 of the Plugin in now available for download. This version has been tested on WordPress 3.8.1 and 3.8.2. It requires at least WordPress 3.3.

Version 9.1 9.2 contains the enhancements and bug fixes listed below.

If you use this plugin and find it useful please give it some positive feedback! Visit the WordPress.org site and give it a rating, tell me it works in the compatibility section and maybe consider making a donation to support future development!

An HTML version of the plugin that emails an HTML email to Public Subscribers is available here.

Version 9.0 of the Plugin in now available for download. This version has been tested on WordPress 3.6 and 3.6.1. It requires at least WordPress 3.3.

Version 9.0 contains the enhancements and bug fixes listed below.

If you use this plugin and find it useful please give it some positive feedback! Visit the WordPress.org site and give it a rating, tell me it works in the compatibility section and maybe consider making a donation to support future development!

An HTML version of the plugin that emails an HTML email to Public Subscribers is available here.

Over 6 years ago I briefly wrote about trouble shooting failed emails in Subscribe2. And 6 years later I still get this same issued raised time after time.

So, I thought it would be good to write a step by step guide to how you might go about testing and trouble shooting.

So, to start with some assumptions. I’m presuming you are using WordPress and Subscribe2 and you are using current release versions. I’m also presuming that you have followed the installation instructions for Subscribe2 and that you do successfully get some emails from your blog, for things like registrations and comments (if you aren’t getting these either then you have a wider failure in sending emails and you need to call your hosting provider).

Now we can work on some steps to try to get things working:

Firstly, visit the Subscribe2->Settings page in the WordPress administration area. If you see any error messages in the red box over the top of the screen you need to get those fixed.

Have you checked for conflicting plugins and themes? Check the list of known conflicts and if that doesn’t help then disable all plugins except Subscribe2 and revert to a core WordPress theme (like TwentyTwelve or TwentyThirteen). Test again and see if Subscribe2 works. If it does then you have a conflict somewhere, re-enable your theme and then plugins one at a time testing after each and every step to find the conflict. It would help greatly if you could let me know about conflicts too so the list can be kept up to date.

In Subscribe2->Settings change the drop down selector where it says “Send Email From:” to a user account name and choose an account with an email address that end with your blogs URL. For example, if your blog address is http://www.my-blog.com the account should have an email address like admin@my-blog.com. Subscribe2 will display a warning message if the account has a different email address. After making the change test everything again.

Next step, are you using Subscribe2 in per-post or digest mode?

Digest Mode
Digest mode sends a summary of posts made in a time period. The periodicity interval can be set by you but the event is triggered in the WordPress cron system.

You need to check that the WordPress cron system is working. Install WP-Crontrol on your site and then visit Tools->Crontrol. Look at the “Next Run” times for events and in particular the subscribe2_cron event. If these are in the past then cron isn’t working. You might want to try adding define( 'ALTERNATE_WP_CRON', true ); to your wp-config.php file and see of that resolves the issue

Per-post Mode
Per-post mode sends posts at the time they are published (both live and scheduled). There are a few things that need checking and some of these apply to Digest mode too.

In the Subscribe2->Settings page under the Email Settings tab make sure you have set the number of recipients per email to 1 (This is the default). Setting it higher than 1 sends a single email to groups of individuals and while this is a little more efficient it also looks a lot more like spam and is more likely to be blocked or filtered by anti-spam measures.

In the Subscribe2->Settings page under the Registered Users tab make sure that you have not excluded any categories

In the Subscribe2->Settings page under the Templates tab make sure that your templates are not empty

Install an email logging plugin and then try sending a test email from the Suscribe2->Send Email page. Do the emails show in the log? Check the log again when you make a new post. If the emails are being logged then Subscribe2 and WordPress are generating the email and it is being blocked on the server, time to move to the next step.

Speak with your hosting provider. Be patient with them. Ask them what restrictions or limitations they have in place on the sending of emails via the PHP mail() function. If they tell you it is not restricted ask them to check again, ALL hosting providers limit this function somehow otherwise they would be a spammer haven. Ask them exactly how the limit is applied and work with them to ensure your site remains within the restrictions. You may need an email queuing solution

Version 8.9.1 of the Plugin in now available for download. This version has been tested on WordPress 3.5.1. It requires at least WordPress 3.1.

Version 8.9.1 contains the enhancements and bug fixes listed below.

If you use this plugin and find it useful please give it some positive feedback! Visit the WordPress.org site and give it a rating, tell me it works in the compatibility section and maybe consider making a donation to support future development!

An HTML version of the plugin that emails an HTML email to Public Subscribers is available here.